'Oh, you cannot guess how much you have lost! The bard, as induty bound, has addressed three long stanzas to Vich Ian Vohr ofthe Banners, enumerating all his great properties, and notforgetting his being a cheerer of the harper and bard,--"a giverof bounteous gifts." Besides, you should have heard a practicaladmonition to the fair-haired son of the stranger, who lives inthe land where the grass is always green--the rider on theshining pampered steed, whose hue is like the raven, and whoseneigh is like the scream of the eagle for battle. This valianthorseman is affectionately conjured to remember that hisancestors were distinguished by their loyalty, as well as bytheir courage.--All this you have lost; but, since your curiosityis not satisfied, I judge, from the distant sound of my brother'swhistle, I may have time to sing the concluding stanzas before hecomes to laugh at my translation.'

Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake! 'Tis the bugle--but not for the chase is the call; 'Tis the pibroch's shrill summons--but not to the hall.

'Tis the summons of heroes for conquest or death, When the banners are blazing on mountain and heath: They call to the dirk, the claymore, and the targe, To the march and the muster, the line and the charge.

Be the brand of each Chieftain like Fin's in his ire! May the blood through his veins flow like currents of fire! Burst the base foreign yoke as your sires did of yore, Or die like your sires, and endure it no more!

CHAPTER XXIII

WAVERLEY CONTINUES AT GLENNAQUOICH

As Flora concluded her song, Fergus stood before them. 'I knew Ishould find you here, even without the assistance of my friendBran. A simple and unsublimed taste now, like my own, wouldprefer a jet d'eau at Versailles to this cascade with all itsaccompaniments of rock and roar; but this is Flora's Parnassus,Captain Waverley, and that fountain her Helicon. It would begreatly for the benefit of my cellar if she could teach hercoadjutor, Mac-Murrough, the value of its influence: he has justdrunk a pint of usquebaugh to correct, he said, the coldness ofthe claret.--Let me try its virtues.' He sipped a little waterin the hollow of his hand, and immediately commenced, with atheatrical air,--

'O Lady of the desert, hail! That lov'st the harping of the Gael, Through fair and fertile regions borne, Where never yet grew grass or corn.

But English poetry will never succeed under the influence of aHighland Helicon.--ALLONS, COURAGE!--

But if you prefer the Gaelic, Captain Waverley, here is littleCathleen shall sing you Drimmindhu.--Come, Cathleen, ASTORE (i.e.my dear), begin; no apologies to the CEANKINNE.'

Cathleen sang with much liveliness a little Gaelic song, theburlesque elegy of a countryman on the loss of his cow, the comictones of which, though he did not understand the language, madeWaverley laugh more than once. [This ancient Gaelic ditty isstill well known, both in the Highlands and in Ireland. It wastranslated into English, and published, if I mistake not, underthe auspices of the facetious Tom D'Urfey, by the title of'Colley, my Cow.']

'Admirable, Cathleen!' cried the Chieftain; 'I must find you ahandsome husband among the clansmen one of these days.'

Cathleen laughed, blushed, and sheltered herself behind hercompanion.

In the progress of their return to the castle, the Chieftainwarmly pressed Waverley to remain for a week or two, in order tosee a grand hunting party, in which he and some other Highlandgentlemen proposed to join. The charms of melody and beauty weretoo strongly impressed in Edward's breast to permit his decliningan invitation so pleasing. It was agreed, therefore, that heshould write a note to the Baron of Bradwardine, expressing hisintention to stay a fortnight at Glennaquoich, and requesting himto forward by the bearer (a GILLY of the Chieftain's) any letterswhich might have arrived for him.

This turned the discourse upon the Baron, whom Fergus highlyextolled as a gentleman and soldier. His character was touchedwith yet more discrimination by Flora, who observed that he wasthe very model of the old Scottish cavalier, with all hisexcellences and peculiarities. 'It is a character, CaptainWaverley, which is fast disappearing; for its best point was aself-respect, which was never lost sight of till now. But, inthe present time, the gentlemen whose principles do not permitthem to pay court to the existing government are neglected anddegraded, and many conduct themselves accordingly; and, like someof the persons you have seen at Tully-Veolan, adopt habits andcompanions inconsistent with their birth and breeding. Theruthless proscription of party seems to degrade the victims whomit brands, however unjustly. But let us hope that a brighter dayis approaching, when a Scottish country-gentleman may be ascholar without the pedantry of our friend the Baron; asportsman, without the low habits of Mr. Falconer; and ajudicious improver of his property, without becoming a boorishtwo-legged steer like Killancureit."

Thus did Flora prophesy a revolution, which time indeed hasproduced, but in a manner very different from what she had in hermind.

The amiable Rose was next mentioned, with the warmest encomium onher person, manners, and mind, 'That man,' said Flora, 'will findan inestimable treasure in the affections of Rose Bradwardine,who shall be so fortunate as to become their object. Her verysoul is in home, and in the discharge of all those quiet virtuesof which home is the centre. Her husband will be to her what herfather now is--the object of all her care, solicitude, andaffection. She will see nothing, and connect herself withnothing, but by him and through him. If he is a man of sense andvirtue, she will sympathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigue,and share his pleasures. If she becomes the property of achurlish or negligent husband, she will suit his taste also, forshe will not long survive his unkindness. And, alas, how greatis the chance that some such unworthy lot may be that of my poorfriend!--Oh, that I were a, queen this moment, and could commandthe most amiable and worthy youth of my kingdom to accepthappiness with the hand of Rose Bradwardine!'

'I wish you would command her to accept mine EN ATTENDANT,' saidFergus, laughing.

I don't know by what caprice it was that this wish, howeverjocularly expressed, rather jarred on Edward's feelings,notwithstanding his growing inclination to Flora, and hisindifference to Miss Bradwardine. This is one of theinexplicabilities of human nature, which we leave withoutcomment.

'Yours, brother?' answered Flora, regarding him steadily. 'No;you have another bride--Honour; and the dangers you must run inpursuit of her rival would break poor Rose's heart.'

With this discourse they reached the castle, and Waverley soonprepared his dispatches for Tully-Veolan. As he knew the Baronwas punctilious in such matters, he was about to impress hisbillet with a seal on which his armorial bearings were engraved,but he did not find it at his watch, and thought he must haveleft it at Tully-Veolan. He mentioned his loss, borrowing at thesame time the family seal of the Chieftain.

'Surely,' said Miss Mac-Ivor, 'Donald Bean Lean would not--'

'My life for him, in such circumstances,' answered her brother;--'besides, he would never have left the watch behind.'

'After all, Fergus,' said Flora,' and with every allowance, I amsurprised you can countenance that man.'

'I countenance him!--This kind sister of mine would persuade you,Captain Waverley, that I take what the people of old used to call"a steakraid," that is, a "collop of the foray," or, in plainerwords, a portion of the robber's booty, paid by him to the Laird,or Chief, through whose grounds he drove his prey. Oh, it iscertain, that unless I can find some way to charm Flora's tongue,General Blakeney will send a sergeant's party from Stirling (thishe said with haughty and emphatic irony) to seize Vich Ian Vohr,as they nickname me, in his own castle.'

'Now, Fergus, must not our guest be sensible that all this isfolly and affectation? You have men enough to serve you withoutenlisting a banditti, and your own honour is above taint.--Whydon't you send this Donald Bean Lean, whom I hate for hissmoothness and duplicity, even more than for his rapine, out ofyour country at once? No cause should induce me to tolerate sucha character.'

'NO cause, Flora?' said the Chieftain, significantly.

'No cause, Fergus! not even that which is nearest to my heart.Spare it the omen of such evil supporters!'

'Oh, but, sister,' rejoined the Chief, gaily, 'you don't considermy respect for LA BELLE PASSION. Evan Dhu Maccombich is in lovewith Donald's daughter, Alice, and you cannot expect me todisturb him in his amours. Why, the whole clan would cry shameon me. You know it is one of their wise sayings, that a kinsmanis part of a man's body, but a foster-brother is a piece of hisheart.'

'Well, Fergus, there is no disputing with you; but I would allthis may end well.'

'Devoutly prayed, my dear and prophetic sister, and the best wayin the world to close a dubious argument.--But hear ye not thepipes, Captain Waverley? Perhaps you will like better to danceto them in the hall, than to be deafened with their harmonywithout taking part in the exercise they invite us to.'

Waverley took Flora's hand. The dance, song, and merry-makingproceeded, and closed the day's entertainment at the castle ofVich Ian Vohr. Edward at length retired, his mind agitated by avariety of new and conflicting feelings, which detained him fromrest for some time, in that not unpleasing state of mind in whichfancy takes the helm, and the soul rather drifts passively alongwith the rapid and confused tide of reflections, than exertsitself to encounter, systematize, or examine them. At a latehour he fell asleep, and dreamed of Flora Mac-Ivor.

CHAPTER XXIV

A STAG-HUNT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

Shall this be a long or a short chapter?--This is a question inwhich you, gentle reader, have no vote, however much you may beinterested in the consequences; just as you may (like myself)probably have nothing to do with the imposing a new tax,excepting the trifling circumstance of being obliged to pay it.More happy surely in the present case, since, though it lieswithin my arbitrary power to extend my materials as I thinkproper, I cannot call you into Exchequer if you do not thinkproper to read my narrative. Let me therefore consider. It istrue, that the annals and documents in my hands say but little ofthis Highland chase; but then I can find copious materials fordescription elsewhere. There is old Lindsay of Pitscottie readyat my elbow, with his Athole hunting, and his 'lofted and joistedpalace of green timber; with all kind of drink to be had in burghand land, as ale, beer, wine, muscadel, malvaise, hippocras, andaquavitae; with wheat-bread, main-bread, ginge-bread, beef,mutton, lamb, veal, venison, goose, grice, capon, coney, crane,swan, partridge, plover, duck, drake, brissel-cock, pawnies,black-cock, muir-fowl, and capercailzies;' not forgetting the'costly bedding, vaiselle, and napry,' and least of all the'excelling stewards, cunning barters, excellent cooks, andpottingars, with confections and drugs for the desserts.'Besides the particulars which may be thence gleaned for thisHighland feast (the splendour of which induced the Pope's legateto dissent from an opinion which he had hitherto held, thatScotland, namely, was the--the--the latter end of the world)--besides these, might I not illuminate my pages with Taylor theWater Poet's hunting in the braes of Mar, where,

Through heather, mosse, 'mong frogs, and bogs, and fogs, 'Mongst craggy cliffs and thunder-battered hills, Hares, hinds, bucks, roes, are chased by men and dogs, Where two hours' hunting fourscore fat deer kills. Lowland, your sports are low as is your seat; The Highland games and minds are high and great.

But without further tyranny over my readers, or display of theextent of my own reading, I shall content myself with borrowing asingle incident from the memorable hunting at Lude, commemoratedin the ingenious Mr. Gunn's Essay on the Caledonian Harp, and soproceed in my story with all the brevity that my natural style ofcomposition, partaking of what scholars call the periphrastic andambagitory, and the vulgar the circumbendibus, will permit me.

The solemn hunting was delayed, from various causes, for aboutthree weeks. The interval was spent by Waverley with greatsatisfaction at Glennaquoich; for the impression which Flora hadmade on his mind at their first meeting grew daily stronger. Shewas precisely the character to fascinate a youth of romanticimagination. Her manners, her language, her talents for poetryand music, gave additional and varied influence to her eminentpersonal charms. Even in her hours of gaiety, she was in hisfancy exalted above the ordinary daughters of Eve, and seemedonly to stoop for an instant to those topics of amusement andgallantry which others appear to live for. In the neighbourhoodof this enchantress, while sport consumed the morning, and musicand the dance led on the hours of evening, Waverley became dailymore delighted with his hospitable landlord, and more enamouredof his bewitching sister.

At length, the period fixed for the grand hunting arrived, andWaverley and the Chieftain departed for the place of rendezvous,which was a day's journey to the northward of Glennaquoich.Fergus was attended on this occasion by about three hundred ofhis clan, well armed, and accoutred in their best fashion.Waverley complied so far with the custom of the country as toadopt the trews (he could not be reconciled to the kilt),brogues, and bonnet, as the fittest dress for the exercise inwhich he was to be engaged, and which least exposed him to bestared at as a stranger when they should reach the place ofrendez-vous. They found, on the spot appointed, several powerfulChiefs, to all of whom Waverley was formally presented, and byall cordially received. Their vassals and clansmen, a part ofwhose feudal duty it was to attend on these parties, appeared insuch numbers as amounted to a small army. These activeassistants spread through the country far and near, forming acircle, technically called the TINCHEL, which, gradually closing,drove the deer in herds together towards the glen where theChiefs and principal sportsmen lay in wait for them. In themeanwhile, these distinguished personages bivouacked among theflowery heath, wrapped up in their plaids; a mode of passing asummer's night which Waverley found by no means unpleasant.

For many hours after sunrise, the mountain ridges and passesretained their ordinary appearance of silence and solitude; andthe Chiefs, with their followers, amused themselves with variouspastimes, in which the joys of the shell, as Ossian has it, werenot forgotten. 'Others apart sat on a hill retired;' probably asdeeply engaged in the discussion of politics and news, asMilton's spirits in metaphysical disquisition. At length signalsof the approach of the game were descried and heard. Distantshouts resounded from valley to valley, as the various parties ofHighlanders, climbing rocks, struggling through copses, wadingbrooks, and traversing thickets, approached more and more near toeach other, and compelled the astonished deer, with the otherwild animals that fled before them, into a narrower circuit.Every now and then the report of muskets was heard, repeated by athousand echoes. The baying of the dogs was soon added to thechorus, which grew ever louder and more loud. At length theadvanced parties of the deer began to show themselves; and as thestragglers came bounding down the pass by two or three at a time,the Chiefs showed their skill by distinguishing the fattest deer,and their dexterity in bringing them down with their guns.Fergus exhibited remarkable address, and Edward was also sofortunate as to attract the notice and applause of the sportsmen.

But now the main body of the deer appeared at the head of theglen, compelled into a very narrow compass, and presenting such aformidable phalanx, that their antlers appeared at a distance,over the ridge of the steep pass, like a leafless grove. Theirnumber was very great, and from a desperate stand which theymade, with the tallest of the red-deer stags arranged in front,in a sort of battle array, gazing on the group which barred theirpassage down the glen, the more experienced sportsmen began toaugur danger. The work of destruction, however, now commenced onall sides. Dogs and hunters were at work, and muskets and fuseesresounded from every quarter. The deer, driven to desperation,made at length a fearful charge right upon the spot where themore distinguished sportsmen had taken their stand. The word wasgiven in Gaelic to fling themselves upon their faces; butWaverley, on whose English ears the signal was lost, had almostfallen a sacrifice to his ignorance of the ancient language inwhich it was communicated. Fergus, observing his danger, sprangup and pulled him with violence to the ground, just as the wholeherd broke down upon them. The tide being absolutelyirresistible, and wounds from a stag's horn highly dangerous, theactivity of the Chieftain may be considered, on this occasion, ashaving saved his guest's life. [The thrust from the tynes, orbranches, of the stag's horns, was accounted far more dangerousthan those of the boar's tusk:--

If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier, But barber's hand shall boar's hurt heal; thereof have thou no fear.]

He detained him with a firm grasp until the whole herd of deerhad fairly run over them. Waverley then attempted to rise, butfound that he had suffered several very severe contusions; and,upon a further examination, discovered that he had sprained hisankle violently.

This checked the mirth of the meeting, although the Highlanders,accustomed to such incidents, and prepared for them, had sufferedno harm themselves. A wigwam was erected almost in an instant,where Edward was deposited on a couch of heather. The surgeon,or he who assumed the office, appeared to unite the characters ofa leech and a conjurer. He was an old smoke-dried Highlander,wearing a venerable grey beard, and having for his sole garment atartan frock, the skirts of which descended to the knee; and,being undivided in front, made the vestment serve at once fordoublet and breeches. [This garb, which resembled the dressoften put on children in Scotland, called a polonie (i.e.polonaise), is a very ancient modification of the Highland garb.It was, in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed ofcloth instead of rings of armour.] He observed great ceremony inapproaching Edward; and though our hero was writhing with pain,would not proceed to any operation which might assuage it untilhe had perambulated his couch three times, moving from east towest, according to the course of the sun. This, which was calledmaking the DEASIL, [Old Highlanders will still make the deasilaround those whom they wish well to. To go round a person in theopposite direction, or wither-shins (German WIDER-SHINS), isunlucky, and a sort of incantation.] both the leech and theassistants seemed to consider as a matter of the last importanceto the accomplishment of a cure; and Waverley, whom pain renderedincapable of expostulation, and who indeed saw no chance of itsbeing attended to, submitted in silence.

After this ceremony was duly performed, the old Esculapius lethis patient blood with a cupping-glass with great dexterity, andproceeded, muttering all the while to himself in Gaelic, to boilon the fire certain herbs, with which he compounded anembrocation. He then fomented the parts which had sustainedinjury, never failing to murmur prayers or spells, which of thetwo Waverley could not distinguish, as his ear only caught thewords GASPER-MELCHIOR-BALTHAZAR-MAX-PRAX-FAX, and similargibberish. The fomentation had a speedy effect in alleviatingthe pain and swelling, which our hero imputed to the virtue ofthe herbs, or the effect of the chafing, but which was by thebystanders unanimously ascribed to the spells with which theoperation had been accompanied. Edward was given to understand,that not one of the ingredients had been gathered except duringthe full moon, and that the herbalist had, while collecting them,uniformly recited a charm, which in English ran thus:--

Hail to thee, thou holy herb, That sprung on holy ground! All in the Mount Olivet First wert thou found: Thou art boot for many a bruise, And healest many a wound; In our Lady's blessed name, I take thee from the ground.' [This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved by Reginald Scott, in his work on Witchcraft.]

Edward observed, with some surprise, that even Fergus,notwithstanding his knowledge and education, seemed to fall inwith the superstitious ideas of his countrymen, either because hedeemed it impolitic to affect scepticism on a matter of generalbelief, or more probably because, like most men who do not thinkdeeply or accurately on such subjects, he had in his mind areserve of superstition which balanced the freedom of hisexpressions and practice upon other occasions. Waverley made nocommentary, therefore, on the manner of the treatment, butrewarded the professor of medicine with a liberality beyond theutmost conception of his wildest hopes. He uttered, on theoccasion, so many incoherent blessings in Gaelic and English,that Mac-Ivor, rather scandalized at the excess of hisacknowledgements, cut them short, by exclaiming, 'CEUD MILEMHALLOICH ART ORT!' i.e. 'A hundred thousand curses on you!'and so pushed the helper of men out of the cabin.

After Waverley was left alone, the exhaustion of pain andfatigue,--for the whole day's exercise had been severe,--threwhim into a profound, but yet a feverish sleep, which he chieflyowed to an opiate draught administered by the old Highlander fromsome decoction of herbs in his pharmacopoeia.

Early the next morning, the purpose of their meeting being over,and their sports damped by the untoward accident, in which Fergusand all his friends expressed the greatest sympathy, it became aquestion how to dispose of the disabled sportsman. This wassettled by Mac-Ivor, who had a litter prepared, of 'birch andhazel grey,'

[On the morrow they made their biers, of birch and hazel grey.--CHEVY CHASE.]

which was borne by his people with such caution anddexterity as renders it not improbable that they may have beenthe ancestors of some of those sturdy Gael, who have now thehappiness to transport the belles of Edinburgh, in their sedanchairs, to ten routs in one evening. When Edward was elevatedupon their shoulders, he could not help being gratified with theromantic effect produced by the breaking up of this sylvan camp.[The author has been sometimes accused of confounding fictionwith reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state, thatthe circumstance of the hunting described in the text aspreparatory to the insurrection of 1745, is, so far as he knows,entirely imaginary. But it is well known such a great huntingwas held in the Forest of Braemar, under the auspices of theEarl of Mar, as preparatory to the Rebellion of 1715; and mostof the Highland Chieftains who afterwards engaged in that civilcommotion were present on this occasion.]

The various tribes assembled, each at the pibroch of their nativeclan, and each headed by their patriarchal ruler. Some, who hadalready begun to retire, were seen winding up the hills, ordescending the passes which led to the scene of action, the soundof their bagpipes dying upon the ear. Others made still a movingpicture upon the narrow plain, forming various changeful groups,their feathers and loose plaids waving in the morning breeze, andtheir arms glittering in the rising sun. Most of the Chiefs cameto take farewell of Waverley, and to express their anxious hopethey might again, and speedily, meet; but the care of Fergusabridged the ceremony of taking leave. At length, his own menbeing completely assembled and mustered. Mac-Ivor commenced hismarch, but not towards the quarter from which they had come. Hegave Edward to understand, that the greater part of hisfollowers, now on the field, were bound on a distant expedition,and that when he had deposited him in the house of a gentleman,who he was sure would pay him every attention, he himself shouldbe under the necessity of accompanying them the greater part ofthe way, but would lose no time in rejoining his friend.

Waverley was rather surprised that Fergus had not mentioned thisulterior destination when they set out upon the hunting-party;but his situation did not admit of many interrogatories. Thegreater part of the clansmen went forward under the guidance ofold Ballenkeiroch and Evan Dhu Maccombich, apparently in highspirits. A few remained for the purpose of escorting theChieftain, who walked by the side of Edward's litter, andattended him with the most affectionate assiduity. About noon,after a journey which the nature of the conveyance, the pain ofhis bruises, and the roughness of the way, rendered inexpressiblypainful, Waverley was hospitably received into the house of agentleman related to Fergus, who had prepared for him everyaccommodation which the simple habits of living, then universalin the Highlands, put in his power. In this person, an old manabout seventy, Edward admired a relic of primitive simplicity.He wore no dress but what his estate afforded. The cloth was thefleece of his own sheep, woven by his own servants, and stainedinto tartan by the dyes produced from the herbs and lichens ofthe hills around him. His linen was spun by his daughters andmaid-servants, from his own flax, nor did his table, thoughplentiful, and varied with game and fish, offer an article butwhat was of native produce.

Claiming himself no rights of clanship or vassalage, he wasfortunate in the alliance and protection of Vich Ian Vohr andother bold and enterprising Chieftains, who protected him in thequiet unambitious life he loved. It is true, the youth born onhis grounds were often enticed to leave him for the service ofhis more active friends; but a few old servants and tenants usedto shake their grey locks when they heard their master censuredfor want of spirit, and observed, 'When the wind is still, theshower falls soft.' This good old man, whose charity andhospitality were unbounded, would have received Waverley withkindness, had he been the meanest Saxon peasant, since hissituation required assistance. But his attention to a friend andguest of Vich Ian Vohr was anxious and unremitted. Otherembrocations were applied to the injured limb, and new spellswere put in practice. At length, after more solicitude than wasperhaps for the advantage of his health, Fergus took farewell ofEdward for a few days, when, he said, he would return toTomanrait, and hoped by that time Waverley would be able to rideone of the Highland ponies of his landlord, and in that mannerreturn to Glennaquoich.

The next day, when his good old host appeared, Edward learnedthat his friend had departed with the dawn, leaving none of hisfollowers except Callum Beg, the sort of foot-page who used toattend his person, and who had it now in charge to wait uponWaverley. On asking his host if he knew where the Chieftain wasgone, the old man looked fixedly at him, with somethingmysterious and sad in the smile which was his only reply.Waverley repeated his question, to which his host answered in aproverb,--

What sent the messengers to hell, Was asking what they knew full well.' [Corresponding to the Lowland saying, 'Mony ane speirs the gate they ken fu' weel.]

He was about to proceed, but Callum Beg said, rather pertly, asEdward thought, that 'Ta Tighearnach (i.e. the Chief) did notlike ta Sassenagh Duinhe-wassel to be pingled wi' micklespeaking, as she was na tat weel.' From this Waverley concludedhe should disoblige his friend by inquiring of a stranger theobject of a journey which he himself had not communicated.

It is unnecessary to trace the progress of our hero's recovery.The sixth morning had arrived, and he was able to walk about witha staff, when Fergus returned with about a score of his men. Heseemed in the highest spirits, congratulated Waverley on hisprogress towards recovery, and finding he was able to sit onhorseback, proposed their immediate return to Glennaquoich,Waverley joyfully acceded, for the form of his fair mistress hadlived in his dreams during all the time of his confinement.

Now he has ridden o'er moor and moss, O'er hill and many a glen.

Fergus, all the while, with his myrmidons, striding stoutly byhis side, or diverging to get a shot at a roe or a heath-cock.Waverley's bosom beat thick when they approached the old tower ofIan nan Chaistel, and could distinguish the fair form of itsmistress advancing to meet them.

Fergus began immediately, with his usual high spirits, toexclaim, 'Open your gates, incomparable princess, to the woundedMoor Abindarez, whom Rodrigo de Narvez, constable of Antiquera,conveys to your castle; or open them, if you like it better, tothe renowned Marquis of Mantua, the sad attendant of his half-slain friend, Baldovinos of the Mountain.--Ah, long rest to thysoul, Cervantes! without quoting thy remnants, how should Iframe my language to befit romantic ears!'

Flora now advanced, and welcoming Waverley with much kindness,expressed her regret for his accident, of which she had alreadyheard the particulars, and her surprise that her brother shouldnot have taken better care to put a stranger on his guard againstthe perils of the sport in which he engaged him. Edward easilyexculpated the Chieftain, who, indeed, at his own personal risk,had probably saved his life.

This greeting over, Fergus said three or four words to his sisterin Gaelic. The tears instantly sprang to her eyes, but theyseemed to be tears of devotion and joy, for she looked up toheaven, and folded her hands as in a solemn expression of prayeror gratitude. After the pause of a minute, she presented toEdward some letters which had been forwarded from Tully-Veolanduring his absence, and, at the same time, delivered some to herbrother. To the latter she likewise gave three or four numbersof the CALEDONIAN MERCURY, the only newspaper which was thenpublished to the north of the Tweed.

Both gentlemen retired to examine their dispatches, and Edwardspeedily found that those which he had received contained mattersof very deep interest.

CHAPTER XXV

NEWS FROM ENGLAND

The letters which Waverley had hitherto received from hisrelations in England, were not such as required any particularnotice in this narrative. His father usually wrote to him withthe pompous affectation of one who was too much oppressed bypublic affairs to find leisure to attend to those of his ownfamily. Now and then he mentioned persons of rank in Scotland towhom he wished his son should pay some attention; but Waverley,hitherto occupied by the amusements which he had found at Tully-Veolan and Glennaquoich, dispensed with paying any attention tohints so coldly thrown out, especially as distance, shortness ofleave of absence, and so forth, furnished a ready apology. Butlatterly the burden of Mr. Richard Waverley's paternal epistlesconsisted in certain mysterious hints of greatness and influencewhich he was speedily to attain, and which would ensure his son'sobtaining the most rapid promotion, should he remain in themilitary service. Sir Everard's letters were of a differenttenor. They were short; for the good Baronet was none of yourillimitable correspondents, whose manuscript overflows the foldsof their large post paper, and leaves no room for the seal; butthey were kind and affectionate, and seldom concluded withoutsome allusion to our hero's stud, some question about the stateof his purse, and a special inquiry after such of his recruits ashad preceded him from Waverley-Honour. Aunt Rachel charged himto remember his principles of religion, to take care of hishealth, to beware of Scotch mists, which, she had heard, wouldwet an Englishman through and through; never to go out at nightwithout his great-coat; and, above all, to wear flannel next tohis skin.

Mr. Pembroke only wrote to our hero one letter, but it was of thebulk of six epistles of these degenerate days, containing, in themoderate compass of ten folio pages, closely written, a precis ofa supplementary quarto manuscript of ADDENDA, DELENDA, ETCORRIGENDA, in reference to the two tracts with which he hadpresented Waverley. This he considered as a mere sop in the panto stay the appetite of Edward's curiosity, until he should findan opportunity of sending down the volume itself, which was muchtoo heavy for the post, and which he proposed to accompany withcertain interesting pamphlets, lately published by his friend inLittle Britain, with whom he had kept up a sort of literarycorrespondence, in virtue of which the library shelves ofWaverley-Honour were loaded with much trash, and a good roundbill, seldom summed in fewer than three figures, was yearlytransmitted, in which Sir Everard Waverley, of Waverley-Honour,Bart., was marked Dr. to Jonathan Grubbet, bookseller andstationer, Little Britain. Such had hitherto been the style ofthe letters which Edward had received from England; but thepacket delivered to him at Glennaquoich was of a different andmore interesting complexion. It would be impossible for thereader, even were I to insert the letters at full length, tocomprehend the real cause of their being written, without aglance into the interior of the British Cabinet at the period inquestion.

The Ministers of the day happened (no very singular event) to bedivided into two parties; the weakest of which, making up byassiduity of intrigue their inferiority in real consequence, hadof late acquired some new proselytes, and with them the hope ofsuperseding their rivals in the favour of their sovereign, andoverpowering them in the House of Commons. Amongst others, theyhad thought it worth while to practise upon Richard Waverley.This honest gentleman, by a grave mysterious demeanour, anattention to the etiquette of business, rather more than to itsessence, a facility in making long dull speeches, consisting oftruisms and commonplaces, hashed up with a technical jargon ofoffice, which prevented the inanity of his orations from beingdiscovered, had acquired a certain name and credit in publiclife, and even established, with many, the character of aprofound politician; none of your shining orators, indeed, whosetalents evaporate in tropes of rhetoric and dashes of wit, butone possessed of steady parts for business, which would wearwell, as the ladies say in choosing their silks, and ought in allreason to be good for common and everyday use, since they wereconfessedly formed of no holiday texture.

This faith had become so general, that the insurgent party in theCabinet of which we have made mention, after sounding Mr. RichardWaverley, were so satisfied with his sentiments and abilities, asto propose, that, in case of a certain revolution in theministry, he should take an ostensible place in the new order ofthings, not indeed of the very first rank, but greatly higher, inpoint both of emolument and influence, than that which he nowenjoyed. There was no resisting so tempting a proposal,notwithstanding that the Great Man, under whose patronage he hadenlisted and by whose banner he had hitherto stood firm, was theprincipal object of the proposed attack by the new allies.Unfortunately this fair scheme of ambition was blighted in thevery bud, by a premature movement. All the official gentlemenconcerned in it, who hesitated to take the part of a voluntaryresignation, were informed that the king had no further occasionfor their services; and, in Richard Waverley's case, which theMinister considered as aggravated by ingratitude; dismissal wasaccompanied by something like personal contempt and contumely.The public, and even the party of whom he shared the fall,sympathized little in the disappointment of this selfish andinterested statesman; and he retired to the country under thecomfortable reflection, that he had lost, at the same time,character, credit, and,--what he at least equally deplored,--emolument.

Richard Waverley's letter to his son upon this occasion was amasterpiece of its kind. Aristides himself could not have madeout a harder case. An unjust monarch, and an ungrateful country,were the burden of each rounded paragraph. He spoke of longservices, and unrequited sacrifices; though the former had beenoverpaid by his salary, and nobody could guess in what the latterconsisted, unless it were in his deserting, not from conviction,but for the lucre of gain, the Tory principles of his family. Inthe conclusion, his resentment was wrought to such an excess bythe force of his own oratory, that he could not repress somethreats of vengeance, however vague and impotent, and finallyacquainted his son with his pleasure that he should testify hissense of the ill-treatment he had sustained, by throwing up hiscommission as soon as the letter reached him. This, he said, wasalso his uncle's desire, as he would himself intimate in duecourse.

Accordingly, the next letter which Edward opened was from SirEverard. His brother's disgrace seemed to have removed from hiswell-natured bosom all recollection of their differences, and,remote as he was from every means of learning that Richard'sdisgrace was in reality only the just, as well as naturalconsequence, of his own unsuccessful intrigues, the good butcredulous Baronet at once set it down as a new and enormousinstance of the injustice of the existing Government. It wastrue, he said, and he must not disguise it even from Edward, thathis father could not have sustained such an insult as was now,for the first time, offered to one of his house, unless he hadsubjected himself to it by accepting of an employment under thepresent system. Sir Everard had no doubt that he now both sawand felt the magnitude of this error, and it should be his (SirEverard's) business, to take care that the cause of his regretshould not extend itself to pecuniary consequences. It wasenough for a Waverley to have sustained the public disgrace; thepatrimonial injury could easily be obviated by the head of theirfamily. But it was both the opinion of Mr. Richard Waverley andhis own, that Edward, the representative of the family ofWaverley-Honour, should not remain in a situation which subjectedhim also to such treatment as that with which his father had beenstigmatized. He requested his nephew therefore to take thefittest, and, at the same time, the most speedy opportunity, oftransmitting his resignation to the War-Office, and hinted,moreover, that little ceremony was necessary where so little hadbeen used to his father. He sent multitudinous greetings to theBaron of Bradwardine.

A letter from Aunt Rachel spoke out even more plainly. Sheconsidered the disgrace of brother Richard as the just reward ofhis forfeiting his allegiance to a lawful, though exiledsovereign, and taking the oaths to an alien; a concession whichher grandfather, Sir Nigel Waverley, refused to make, either tothe Roundhead Parliament or to Cromwell, when his life andfortune stood in the utmost extremity. She hoped her dear Edwardwould follow the footsteps of his ancestors, and as speedily aspossible get rid of the badge of servitude to the usurpingfamily, and regard the wrongs sustained by his father as anadmonition from Heaven, that every desertion of the line ofloyalty becomes its own punishment. She also concluded with herrespects to Mr. Bradwardine, and begged Waverley would inform herwhether his daughter, Miss Rose, was old enough to wear a pair ofvery handsome ear-rings, which she proposed to send as a token ofher affection. The good lady also desired to be informed whetherMr. Bradwardine took as much Scotch snuff, and danced asunweariedly, as he did when he was at Waverley-Honour aboutthirty years ago.

These letters, as might have been expected, highly excitedWaverley's indignation. From the desultory style of his studies,he had not any fixed political opinion to place in opposition tothe movements of indignation which he felt at his father'ssupposed wrongs. Of the real cause of his disgrace, Edward wastotally ignorant; nor had his habits at all led him toinvestigate the politics of the period in which he lived, orremark the intrigues in which his father had been so activelyengaged. Indeed, any impressions which he had accidentallyadopted concerning the parties of the times, were (owing to thesociety in which he had lived at Waverley-Honour) of a naturerather unfavourable to the existing government and dynasty. Heentered, therefore, without hesitation, into the resentfulfeeling of the relations who had the best title to dictate hisconduct; and not perhaps the less willingly, when he rememberedthe tedium of his quarters, and the inferior figure which he hadmade among the officers of his regiment. If he could have hadany doubt upon the subject, it would have been decided by thefollowing letter from his commanding-officer, which, as it isvery short, shall be inserted verbatim:--

'SIR,

'Having carried somewhat beyond the line of my duty an indulgencewhich even the lights of nature, and much more those ofChristianity, direct towards errors which may arise from youthand inexperience, and that altogether without effect, I amreluctantly compelled, at the present crisis, to use the onlyremaining remedy which is in my power. You are therefore, herebycommanded to repair to --, the head-quarters of the regiment,within three days after the date of this letter. If you shallfail to do so, I must report you to the War-Office as absentwithout leave, and also take other steps, which will bedisagreeable to you, as well as to, Sir,

Edward's blood boiled within him as he read this letter. He hadbeen accustomed from his very infancy to possess, in a greatmeasure, the disposal of his own time, and thus acquired habitswhich rendered the rules of military discipline as unpleasing tohim in this as they were in some other respects. An idea that inhis own case they would not be enforced in a very rigid mannerhad also obtained full possession of his mind, and had hithertobeen sanctioned by the indulgent conduct of his lieutenant-colonel. Neither had anything occurred, to his knowledge, thatshould have induced his commanding-officer, without any otherwarning than the hints we noticed at the end of the fourteenthchapter, so suddenly to assume a harsh, and, as Edward deemed it,so insolent a tone of dictatorial authority. Connecting it withthe letters he had just received from his family, he could notbut suppose that it was designed to make him feel, in his presentsituation, the same pressure of authority which had beenexercised in his father's case, and that the whole was aconcerted scheme to depress and degrade every member of theWaverley family.

Without a pause, therefore, Edward wrote a few cold lines,thanking his lieutenant-colonel for past civilities, andexpressing regret that he should have chosen to efface theremembrance of them, by assuming a different tone towards him.The strain of his letter, as well as what he (Edward) conceivedto be his duty, in the present crisis, called upon him to laydown his commission; and he therefore enclosed the formalresignation of a situation which subjected him to so unpleasant acorrespondence, and requested Colonel Gardiner would have thegoodness to forward it to the proper authorities.

Having finished this magnanimous epistle, he felt somewhatuncertain concerning the terms in which his resignation ought tobe expressed, upon which subject he resolved to consult FergusMac-Ivor. It may be observed in passing, that the bold andprompt habits of thinking, acting, and speaking, whichdistinguished this young Chieftain, had given him a considerableascendancy over the mind of Waverley. Endowed with at leastequal powers of understanding, and with much finer genius, Edwardyet stooped to the bold and decisive activity of an intellectwhich was sharpened by the habit of acting on a preconceived andregular system, as well as by extensive knowledge of the world.

When Edward found his friend, the latter had still in his handthe newspaper which he had perused, and advanced to meet him withthe embarrassment of one who has unpleasing news to communicate.'Do your letters, Captain Waverley, confirm the unpleasinginformation which I find in this paper?'

He put the paper into his hand, where his father's disgrace wasregistered in the most bitter terms, transferred probably fromsome London journal. At the end of the paragraph was thisremarkable innuendo:--

'We understand, that "this same RICHARD, who hath done all this,"is not the only example of the WAVERING HONOUR of W-v-rl-y H-n-r.See the GAZETTE of this day.'

With hurried and feverish apprehension our hero turned to theplace referred to, and found therein recorded, 'Edward Waverley,captain in -- regiment dragoons, superseded for absence withoutleave:' and in the list of military promotions, referring to thesame regiment, he discovered this further article, 'Lieut. JuliusButler, to be captain, vice Edward Waverley, superseded.'

Our hero's bosom glowed with the resentment which undeserved andapparently premeditated insult was calculated to excite in thebosom of one who had aspired after honour, and was thus wantonlyheld up to public scorn and disgrace. Upon comparing the date ofhis colonel's letter with that of the article in the GAZETTE, heperceived that his threat of making a report upon his absence hadbeen literally fulfilled, and without inquiry, as it seemed,whether Edward had either received his summons, or was disposedto comply with it. The whole, therefore, appeared a formed planto degrade him in the eyes of the public; and the idea of itshaving succeeded filled him with such bitter emotions, that,after various attempts to conceal them, he at length threwhimself into Mac-Ivor's arms, and gave vent to tears of shame andindignation.

It was none of this Chieftain's faults to be indifferent to thewrongs of his friends; and for Edward, independent of certainplans with which he was connected, he felt a deep and sincereinterest. The proceeding appeared as extraordinary to him as ithad done to Edward. He indeed knew of more motives than Waverleywas privy to, for the peremptory order that he should join hisregiment. But that, without further inquiry into thecircumstances of a necessary delay, the commanding officer, incontradiction to his known and established character, should haveproceeded in so harsh and unusual a manner, was a mystery whichhe could not penetrate. He soothed our hero, however, to thebest of his power, and began to turn his thoughts on revenge forhis insulted honour.

Fergus paused. 'It is an act of friendship which you shouldcommand, could it be useful, or lead to the righting your honour;but in the present case, I doubt if your commanding-officer wouldgive you the meeting on account of his having taken measures,which, however harsh and exasperating, were still within thestrict bounds of his duty. Besides, Gardiner is a preciseHuguenot, and has adopted certain ideas about the sinfulness ofsuch rencontres, from which it would be impossible to make himdepart, especially as his courage is beyond all suspicion. Andbesides, I--I--to say the truth--I dare not at this moment, forsome very weighty reasons, go near any of the military quartersor garrisons belonging to this government.'

'And am I,' said Waverley, 'to sit down quiet and contented underthe injury I have received?'

'That will I never advise, my friend,' replied Mac-Ivor. 'But Iwould have vengeance to fall on the head, not on the hand; on thetyrannical and oppressive Government which designed and directedthese premeditated and reiterated insults, not on the tools ofoffice which they employed in the execution of the injuries theyaimed at you.'

'On the Government!' said Waverley.

'Yes,' replied the impetuous Highlander, 'on the usurping Houseof Hanover, whom your grandfather would no more have served thanhe would have taken wages of red-hot gold from the great fiend ofhell!'

'But since the time of my grandfather, two generations of thisdynasty have possessed the throne,' said Edward, coolly.

'True,' replied the Chieftain; 'and because we have passivelygiven them so long the means of showing their native character,--because both you and I myself have lived in quiet submission,have even truckled to the times so far as to accept commissionsunder them, and thus have given them an opportunity of disgracingus publicly by resuming them,--are we not on that account toresent injuries which our fathers only apprehended, but which wehave actually sustained? Or is the cause of the unfortunateStuart family become less just, because their title has devolvedupon an heir who is innocent of the charges of misgovernmentbrought against his father? Do you remember the lines of yourfavourite poet?--

Had Richard unconstrained resigned the throne, A king can give no more than is his own; The title stood entailed had Richard had a son.

You see, my dear Waverley, I can quote poetry as well as Floraand you. But come, clear your moody brow, and trust to me toshow you an honourable road to a speedy and glorious revenge.Let us seek Flora, who perhaps has more news to tell us of whathas occurred during our absence. She will rejoice to hear thatyou are relieved of your servitude. But first add a postcript toyour letter, marking the time when you received thiscalvinistical Colonel's first summons, and express your regretthat the hastiness of his proceedings prevented your anticipatingthem by sending your resignation. Then let him blush for hisinjustice.'

The letter was sealed accordingly, covering a formal resignationof the commission, and Mac-Ivor dispatched it with some lettersof his own by a special messenger, with charge to put them intothe nearest post office in the Lowlands.

CHAPTER XXVI

AN ECLAIRCISSEMENT

The hint which the Chieftain had thrown out respecting Flora wasnot unpremeditated. He had observed with great satisfaction thegrowing attachment of Waverley to his sister, nor did he see anybar to their union, excepting the situation which Waverley'sfather held in the ministry, and Edward's own commission in thearmy of George II. These obstacles were now removed, and in amanner which apparently paved the way for the son's becomingreconciled to another allegiance. In every other respect thematch would be most eligible. The safety, happiness, andhonourable provision of his sister, whom he dearly loved,appeared to be ensured by the proposed union; and his heartswelled when he considered how his own interest would be exaltedin the eyes of the ex-monarch to whom he had dedicated hisservice, by an alliance with one of those ancient, powerful, andwealthy English families of the steady Cavalier faith, to awakenwhose decayed attachment to the Stuart family was now a matter ofsuch vital importance to the Stuart cause. Nor could Fergusperceive any obstacle to such a scheme. Waverley's attachmentwas evident; and as his person was handsome, and his tasteapparently coincided with her own, he anticipated no oppositionon the part of Flora. Indeed, between his ideas of patriarchalpower, and those which he had acquired in France respecting thedisposal of females in marriage, any opposition from his sister,dear as she was to him, would have been the last obstacle onwhich he would have calculated, even had the union been lesseligible.

Influenced by these feelings, the Chief now led Waverley in questof Miss Mac-Ivor, not without the hope that the present agitationof his guest's spirits might give him courage to cut short whatFergus termed the romance of the courtship. They found Flora,with her faithful attendants, Una and Cathleen, busied inpreparing what appeared to Waverley to be white bridal favours.Disguising as well as he could the agitation of his mind,Waverley asked for what joyful occasion Miss Mac-Ivor made suchample preparation.

'It is for Fergus's bridal,' she said, smiling.

'Indeed!' said Edward; 'he has kept his secret well. I hope hewill allow me to be his bride's-man.'

'That is a man's office, but not yours, as Beatrice says,'retorted Flora.

'And who is the fair lady, may I be permitted to ask, Miss Mac-Ivor?'

'Did not I tell you long since, that Fergus wooed no bride butHonour?' answered Flora.

'And am I then incapable of being his assistant and counsellor inthe pursuit of honour?' said our hero, colouring deeply. 'Do Irank so low in your opinion?'

'Far from it, Captain Waverley. I would to God you were of ourdetermination! and made use of the expression which displeasedyou, solely

Because you are not of our quality, But stand against us as an enemy.

'That time is past, sister,' said Fergus; 'and you may wishEdward Waverley (no longer captain) joy of being freed from theslavery to an usurper, implied in that sable and ill-omenedemblem.'

'Yes,' said Waverley, undoing the cockade from his hat, 'it haspleased the king who bestowed this badge upon me, to resume it ina manner which leaves me little reason to regret his service.'

'Thank God for that!' cried the enthusiast;--'and oh that theymay be blind enough to treat every man of honour who serves themwith the same indignity, that I may have less to sigh for whenthe struggle approaches!

'And now, sister,' said the Chieftain, 'replace his cockade withone of a more lively colour, I think it was the fashion of theladies of yore to arm and send forth their knights to highachievement.'

'Not,' replied the lady, 'till the knight adventurer had wellweighed the justice and the danger of the cause, Fergus. Mr.Waverley is just now too much agitated by feelings of recentemotion, for me to press upon him a resolution of consequence.'

Waverley felt half alarmed at the thought of adopting the badgeof what was by the majority of the kingdom esteemed rebellion,yet he could not disguise his chagrin at the coldness with whichFlora parried her brother's hint. 'Miss Mac-Ivor, I perceive,thinks the knight unworthy of her encouragement and favour,' saidhe, somewhat bitterly.

'Not so, Mr. Waverley,' she replied, with great sweetness. 'Whyshould I refuse my brother's valued friend a boon which I amdistributing to his whole clan? Most willingly would I enlistevery man of honour in the cause to which my brother has devotedhimself. But Fergus has taken his measures with his eyes open.His life has been devoted to this cause from his cradle; with himits call is sacred, were it even a summons to the tomb. But howcan I wish you, Mr. Waverley, so new to the world, so far fromevery friend who might advise and ought to influence you,--in amoment too of sudden pique and indignation,--how can I wish youto plunge yourself at once into so desperate an enterprise?'

Fergus, who did not understand these delicacies, strode throughthe apartment biting his lip, and then, with a constrained smile,said, 'Well, sister, I leave you to act your new character ofmediator between the Elector of Hanover and the subjects of yourlawful sovereign and benefactor,' and left the room.

There was a painful pause, which was at length broken by MissMac-Ivor. 'My brother is unjust,' she said, 'because he can bearno interruption that seems to thwart his loyal zeal.'

'And do you not share his ardour?' asked Waverley.

'Do I not?' answered Flora--'God knows mine exceeds his, if thatbe possible. But I am not, like him, rapt by the bustle ofmilitary preparation, and the infinite detail necessary to thepresent undertaking, beyond consideration of the grand principlesof justice and truth, on which our enterprise is grounded; andthese, I am certain, can only be furthered by measures inthemselves true and just. To operate upon your present feelings,my dear Mr. Waverley, to induce you to an irretrievable step, ofwhich you have not considered either the justice or the danger,is, in my poor judgement, neither the one nor the other.'

'Incomparable Flora!' said Edward, taking her hand, 'how much doI need such a monitor!'

'A better one by far,' said Flora, gently withdrawing her hand,'Mr. Waverley will always find in his own bosom, when he willgive its small still voice leisure to be heard.'

'No, Miss Mac-Ivor, I dare not hope it. A thousand circumstancesof fatal self-indulgence have made me the creature rather ofimagination than reason. Durst I but hope--could I but thinkthat you would deign to be to me that affectionate, thatcondescending friend, who would strengthen me to redeem myerrors, my future life'--

'Hush, my dear sir! now you carry your joy at escaping the handsof a Jacobite recruiting officer to an unparalleled excess ofgratitude.'

'Nay, dear Flora, trifle with me no longer; you cannot mistakethe meaning of those feelings which I have almost involuntarilyexpressed; and since I have broken the barrier of silence, let meprofit by my audacity--Or may I, with your permission, mention toyour brother'--

'Not for the world, Mr. Waverley!'

'What am I to understand?' said Edward. 'Is there any fatalbar--has any prepossession'--

'None, sir,' answered Flora. 'I owe it to myself to say, that Inever yet saw the person on whom I thought with reference to thepresent subject.'

'I have not even that excuse. Captain Waverley's character is soopen--is, in short, of that nature, that it cannot bemisconstrued, either in its strength or its weakness.'

'And for that weakness you despise me?' said Edward.

'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley, and remember it is but within thishalf-hour that there existed between us a barrier of a nature tome insurmountable, since I never could think of an officer in theservice of the Elector of Hanover in any other light than as acasual acquaintance. Permit me then to arrange my ideas upon sounexpected a topic, and in less than an hour I will be ready togive you such reasons for the resolution I shall express, as maybe satisfactory at least, if not pleasing to you.' So saying,Flora withdrew, leaving Waverley to meditate upon the manner inwhich she had received his addresses.

Ere he could make up his mind whether to believe his suit hadbeen acceptable or no, Fergus re-entered the apartment. 'What, ALA MORT, Waverley?' he cried. 'Come down with me to the court,and you shall see a sight worth all the tirades of your romances.An hundred firelocks, my friend, and as many broadswords, justarrived from good friends; and two or three hundred stout fellowsalmost fighting which shall first possess them.--But let me lookat you closer--Why, a true Highlander would say you had beenblighted by an evil eye.--Or can it be this silly girl that hasthus blanked your spirit?--Never mind her, dear Edward; thewisest of her sex are fools in what regards the business oflife.'

'Indeed, my good friend,' answered Waverley, 'all that I cancharge against your sister is, that she is too sensible, tooreasonable.'

'If that be all, I ensure you for a louis d'or against the moodlasting four-and-twenty hours. No woman was ever steadilysensible for that period; and I will engage, if that will pleaseyou, Flora shall be as unreasonable to-morrow as any of her sex.You must learn, my dear Edward, to consider women ENMOUSQUETAIRE.' So saying, he seized Waverley's arm, and draggedhim off to review his military preparations.

CHAPTER XXVII

UPON THE SAME SUBJECT

Fergus Mac-Ivor had too much tact and delicacy to renew thesubject which he had interrupted. His head was, or appeared tobe, so full of guns, broadswords, bonnets, canteens, and tartanhose, that Waverley could not for some time draw his attention toany other topic.

'Are you to take the field so soon, Fergus,' he asked, 'that youare making all these martial preparations?'

'When we have settled that you go with me, you shall know all;but otherwise, the knowledge might rather be prejudicial to you.'

'But are you serious in your purpose, with such inferior forces,to rise against an established government? It is mere frenzy.'

'LAISSEZ FAIRE A DON ANTOINE--I shall take good care of myself.We shall at least use the compliment of Conan, who never got astroke but he gave one. I would not, however,' continued theChieftain, 'have you think me mad enough to stir till afavourable opportunity: I will not slip my dog before the game'safoot. But once more, will you join with us, and you shall knowall?'

'How can I?' said Waverley; 'I who have so lately held thatcommission which is now posting back to those that gave it? Myaccepting it implied a promise of fidelity, and anacknowledgement of the legality of the government.

'A rash promise,' answered Fergus, 'is not a steel handcuff; itmay be shaken off, especially when it was given under deception,and has been repaid by insult. But if you cannot immediatelymake up your mind to a glorious revenge, go to England, and ereyou cross the Tweed, you will hear tidings that will make theworld ring; and if Sir Everard be the gallant old cavalier I haveheard him described by some of our HONEST gentlemen of the yearone thousand seven hundred and fifteen, he will find you a betterhorse-troop and a better cause than you have lost.'

'Nay, be serious, my dear friend,' said Waverley; 'I feel thatthe happiness of my future life must depend upon the answer whichMiss Mac-Ivor shall make to what I ventured to tell her thismorning.'

'And is this your very sober earnest,' said Fergus, more gravely,'or are we in the land of romance and fiction?'

'My earnest, undoubtedly. How could you suppose me jesting onsuch a subject?'

'Then, in very sober earnest,' answered his friend, 'I am veryglad to hear it; and so highly do I think of Flora, that; you arethe only man in England for whom I would say so much.--But beforeyou shake my hand so warmly, there is more to be considered.--Your own family--will they approve your connecting yourself withthe sister of a highborn Highland beggar?'

'My uncle's situation,' said Waverley, 'his general opinions, andhis uniform indulgence, entitle me to say, that birth andpersonal qualities are all he would look to in such a connexion.And where can I find both united in such excellence as in yoursister?'

'Oh, nowhere!--CELA VA SANS DIRE,' replied Fergus with a smile.'But your father will expect a father's prerogative in beingconsulted.'

'Surely; but his late breach with the ruling powers removes allapprehension of objection on his part, especially as I amconvinced that my uncle will be warm in my cause.'

'Religion, perhaps,' said Fergus, 'may make obstacles, though weare not bigoted Catholics.'

'My grandmother was of the Church of Rome, and her religion wasnever objected to by my family.--Do not think of MY friends, dearFergus; let me rather have your influence where it may be morenecessary to remove obstacles--I mean with your lovely sister.'

'My lovely sister,' replied Fergus, 'like her loving brother, isvery apt to have a pretty decisive will of her own, by which, inthis case, you must be ruled; but you shall not want my interest,nor my counsel. And, in the first place, I will give you onehint--loyalty is her ruling passion; and since she could spell anEnglish book, she has been in love with the memory of the gallantCaptain Wogan, who renounced the service of the usurper Cromwellto join the standard of Charles II, marched a handful of cavalryfrom London to the Highlands to join Middleton, then in arms forthe king, and at length died gloriously in the royal cause. Askher to show you some verses she made on his history and fate;they have been much admired, I assure you. The next point is--Ithink I saw Flora go up towards the waterfall a short time since--follow, man, follow! don't allow the garrison time tostrengthen its purposes of resistance--ALERTE A LA MURAILLE!Seek Flora out, and learn her decision as soon as you can--andCupid go with you, while I go to look over belts and cartouch-boxes.'

Waverley ascended the glen with an anxious and throbbing heart.Love, with all its romantic train of hopes, fears, and wishes,was mingled with other feelings of a nature less easily defined.He could not but remember how much this morning had changed hisfate, and into what a complication of perplexity it was likely toplunge him. Sunrise had seen him possessed of an esteemed rankin the honourable profession of arms, his father to allappearance rapidly rising in the favour of his sovereign;--allthis had passed away like a dream--he himself was dishonoured,his father disgraced, and he had become involuntarily theconfidant at least, if not the accomplice, of plans dark, deep,and dangerous, which must infer either subversion of thegovernment he had so lately served, or the destruction of all whohad participated in them, Should Flora even listen to his suitfavourably, what prospect was there of its being brought to ahappy termination, amid the tumult of an impending insurrection?Or how could he make the selfish request that she should leaveFergus, to whom she was so much attached, and, retiring with himto England, wait, as a distant spectator, the success of herbrother's undertaking, or the ruin of all his hopes andfortunes!--Or, on the other hand, to engage himself, with noother aid than his single arm, in the dangerous and precipitatecounsels of the Chieftain,--to be whirled along by him, thepartaker of all his desperate and impetuous motions, renouncingalmost the power of judging, or deciding upon the rectitude orprudence of his actions,--this was no pleasing prospect for thesecret pride of Waverley to stoop to. And yet what otherconclusion remained, saving the rejection of his addresses byFlora, an alternative not to be thought of in the present high-wrought state of his feelings, with anything short of mentalagony. Pondering the doubtful and dangerous prospect before him,he at length arrived near the cascade, where, as Fergus hadaugured, he found Flora seated.

She was quite alone; and, as soon as she observed his approach,she arose, and came to meet him. Edward attempted to saysomething within the verge of ordinary compliment andconversation, but found himself unequal to the task. Floraseemed at first equally embarrassed, but recovered herself morespeedily, and (an unfavourable augury for Waverley's suit) wasthe first to enter upon the subject of their last interview, 'Itis too important, in every point of view, Mr. Waverley, to permitme to leave you in doubt on my sentiments.'

'Do not speak them speedily,' said Waverley, much agitated,'unless they are such as, I fear from your manner, I must not dareto anticipate. Let time--let my future conduct--let yourbrother's influence'--

'Forgive me, Mr. Waverley,' said Flora, her complexion a littleheightened, but her voice firm and composed. 'I should incur myown heavy censure, did I delay expressing my sincere convictionthat I can never regard you otherwise than as a valued friend. Ishould do you the highest injustice did I conceal my sentimentsfor a moment. I see I distress you, and I grieve for it, butbetter now than later; and oh, better a thousand times, Mr.Waverley, that you should feel a present momentarydisappointment, than the long and heart-sickening griefs whichattend a rash and ill-assorted marriage!'

'Good God!' exclaimed Waverley, 'why should you anticipate suchconsequences from a union where birth is equal, where fortune isfavourable, where, if I may venture to say so, the tastes aresimilar, where you allege no preference for another, where youeven express a favourable opinion of him whom you reject?'

'Mr. Waverley, I HAVE that favourable opinion,' answered Flora;'and so strongly, that though I would rather have been silent onthe grounds of my resolution, you shall command them, if youexact such a mark of my esteem and confidence.'

She sat down upon a fragment of rock, and Waverley, placinghimself near her, anxiously pressed for the explanation sheoffered.

'I dare hardly,' she said, 'tell you the situation of myfeelings, they are so different from those usually ascribed toyoung women at my period of life; and I dare hardly touch uponwhat I conjecture to be the nature of yours, lest I should giveoffence where I would willingly administer consolation. Formyself, from my infancy till this day, I have had but one wish--the restoration of my royal benefactors to their rightfulthrone. It is impossible to express to you the devotion of myfeelings to this single subject; and I will frankly confess, thatit has so occupied my mind as to exclude every thought respectingwhat is called my own settlement in life. Let me but live to seethe day of that happy restoration, and a Highland cottage, aFrench convent, or an English palace, will be alike indifferentto me.'

'But, dearest Flora, how is your enthusiastic zeal for the exiledfamily inconsistent with my happiness?'

'Because you seek, or ought to seek in the object of yourattachment, a heart whose principal delight should be inaugmenting your domestic felicity, and returning your affection,even to the height of romance. To a man of less keensensibility, and less enthusiastic tenderness of disposition,Flora Mac-Ivor might give content, if not happiness; for were theirrevocable words spoken, never would she be deficient in theduties which she vowed.'

'And why--why, Miss Mac-Ivor, should you think yourself a morevaluable treasure to one who is less capable of loving, ofadmiring you, than to me?'

'Simply because the tone of our affections would be more inunison, and because his more blunted sensibility would notrequire the return of enthusiasm which I have not to bestow. Butyou, Mr. Waverley, would for ever refer to the idea of domestichappiness which your imagination is capable of painting, andwhatever fell short of that ideal representation would beconstrued into coolness and indifference, while you mightconsider the enthusiasm with which I regarded the success of theroyal family as defrauding your affection of its due return.'

'I could esteem you, Mr. Waverley, as much, perhaps more, thanany man I have ever seen; but I cannot love you as you ought tobe loved. Oh! do not, for your own sake, desire so hazardous anexperiment! The woman whom you marry ought to have affectionsand opinions moulded upon yours. Her studies ought to be yourstudies;--her wishes, her feelings, her hopes, her fears, shouldall mingle with yours. She should enhance your pleasures, shareyour sorrows, and cheer your melancholy.'

'And, why will not you, Miss Mac-Ivor, who can so well describe ahappy union,--why will not you be yourself the person youdescribe?'

'Is it possible you do not yet comprehend me?' answered Flora.'Have I not told you, that every keener sensation of my mind isbent exclusively towards an event, upon which, indeed, I have nopower but those of my earnest prayers?'

'And might not the granting the suit I solicit,' said Waverley,too earnest on his purpose to consider what he was about to say,'even advance the interest to which you have devoted yourself?My family is wealthy and powerful, inclined in principles to theStuart race, and should a favourable opportunity'--

'A favourable opportunity!' said Flora, somewhat scornfully,--'inclined in principles!--Can such lukewarm adherence behonourable to yourselves, or gratifying to your lawfulsovereign?--Think, from my present feelings, what I should sufferwhen I held the place of member in a family where the rightswhich I hold most sacred are subjected to cold discussion, andonly deemed worthy of support when they shall appear on the pointof triumphing without it!'

'Your doubts,' quickly replied Waverley, 'are unjust as far asconcerns myself. The cause that I shall assert, I dare supportthrough every danger, as undauntedly as the boldest who drawssword in its behalf.'

'Of that,' answered Flora, 'I cannot doubt for a moment. Butconsult your own good sense and reason, rather than aprepossession hastily adopted, probably only because you have meta young woman possessed of the usual accomplishments, in asequestered and romantic situation. Let your part in this greatand perilous drama rest upon conviction, and not on a hurried,and probably a temporary feeling.'

Waverley attempted to reply, but his words failed him. Everysentiment that Flora had uttered vindicated the strength of hisattachment; for even her loyalty, although wildly enthusiastic,was generous and noble, and disdained to avail itself of anyindirect means of supporting the cause to which she was devoted.

After walking a little way in silence down the path, Flora thusresumed the conversation.--'One word more, Mr. Waverley, ere webid farewell to this topic for ever; and forgive my boldness ifthat word have the air of advice. My brother Fergus is anxiousthat you should join him in his present enterprise. But do notconsent to this: you could not, by your single exertions,further his success, and you would inevitably share his fall, ifit be God's pleasure that fall he must. Your character wouldalso suffer irretrievably. Let me beg you will return to yourown country; and, having publicly freed yourself from every tieto the usurping government, I trust you will see cause, and findopportunity, to serve your injured sovereign with effect, andstand forth, as your loyal ancestors, at the head of your naturalfollowers and adherents, a worthy representative of the house ofWaverley.'

'And should I be so happy as thus to distinguish myself, might Inot hope'--

'Forgive my interruption,' said Flora. 'The present time only isours, and I can but explain to you with candour the feelingswhich I now entertain; how they might be altered by a train ofevents too favourable perhaps to be hoped for, it were in vaineven to conjecture: only be assured, Mr. Waverley, that, aftermy brother's honour and happiness, there is none which I shallmore sincerely pray for than for yours.'

With these words she parted from him, for they were now arrivedwhere two paths separated. Waverley reached the castle amidst amedley of conflicting passions. He avoided any private interviewwith Fergus, as he did not find himself able either to encounterhis raillery, or reply to his solicitations. The wild revelry ofthe feast, for Mac-Ivor kept open table for his clan, served insome degree to stun reflection. When their festivity was ended,he began to consider how he should again meet Miss Mac-Ivor afterthe painful and interesting explanation of the morning. ButFlora did not appear. Fergus, whose eyes flashed when he wastold by Cathleen that her mistress designed to keep her apartmentthat evening, went himself in quest of her; but apparently hisremonstrances were in vain, for he returned with a heightenedcomplexion, and manifest symptoms of displeasure. The rest ofthe evening passed on without any allusion, on the part either ofFergus or Waverley, to the subject which engrossed thereflections of the latter, and perhaps of both.

When retired to his own apartment, Edward endeavoured to sum upthe business of the day. That the repulse he had received fromFlora would be persisted in for the present, there was no doubt.But could he hope for ultimate success in case circumstancespermitted the renewal of his suit? Would the enthusiasticloyalty, which at this animating moment left no room for a softerpassion, survive, at least in its engrossing force, the successor the failure of the present political machinations? And if so,could he hope that the interest which she had acknowledged him topossess in her favour, might be improved into a warmerattachment? He taxed his memory to recall every word she hadused, with the appropriate looks and gestures which had enforcedthem, and ended by finding himself in the same state ofuncertainty. It was very late before sleep brought relief to thetumult of his mind, after the most painful and agitating daywhich he had ever passed.

CHAPTER XXVIII

A LETTER FROM TULLY-VEOLAN

In the morning, when Waverley's troubled reflections had for sometime given way to repose, there came music to his dreams, but notthe voice of Selma. He imagined himself transported back toTully-Veolan, and that he heard Davie Gellatley singing in thecourt those matins which used generally to be the first soundsthat disturbed his repose while a guest of the Baron ofBradwardine. The notes which suggested this vision continued,and waxed louder, until Edward awoke in earnest. The illusion,however, did not seem entirely dispelled. The apartment was inthe fortress of Ian nan Chaistel, but it was still the voice ofDavie Gellatley that made the following lines resound under thewindow:--

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer; A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. [These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns wrote additional verses.]

Curious to know what could have determined Mr. Gellatley on anexcursion of such unwonted extent, Edward began to dress himselfin all haste, during which operation the minstrelsy of Daviechanged its tune more than once:--

There's naught in the Highlands but syboes and leeks, And lang-leggit callants gaun wanting the breeks; Wanting the breeks, and without hose and shoon, But we'll a' win the breeks when King Jamie comes hame. [These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of 'We'll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame;' to which Burns likewise wrote some verses.]

By the time Waverley was dressed and had issued forth, David hadassociated himself with two or three of the numerous Highlandloungers who always graced the gates of the castle with theirpresence, and was capering and dancing full merrily in thedoubles and full career of a Scotch foursome reel, to the musicof his own whistling. In this double capacity of dancer andmusician, he continued, until an idle piper, who observed hiszeal, obeyed the unanimous call of SEID SUAS (i.e. blow up), andrelieved him from the latter part of his trouble. Young and oldthen mingled in the dance as they could find partners. Theappearance of Waverley did not interrupt David's exercise, thoughhe contrived, by grinning, nodding, and throwing one or twoinclinations of the body into the graces with which he performedthe Highland fling, to convey to our hero symptoms ofrecognition. Then, while busily employed in setting, whoopingall the while, and snapping his fingers over his head, he of asudden prolonged his side-step until it brought him to the placewhere Edward was standing, and, still keeping time to the musiclike Harlequin in a pantomime, he thrust a letter into our hero'shand, and continued his saltation without pause or intermission,Edward, who perceived that the address was in Rose's handwriting,retired to peruse it, leaving the faithful bearer to continue hisexercise until the piper or he should be tired out.

The contents of the letter greatly surprised him. It hadoriginally commenced with DEAR SIR; but these words had beencarefully erased, and the monosyllable, SIR, substituted in theirplace. The rest of the contents shall be given in Rose's ownlanguage :--

'I fear I am using an improper freedom by intruding upon you, yetI cannot trust to any one else to let you know some things whichhave happened here, with which it seems necessary you should beacquainted. Forgive me if I am wrong in what I am doing; for,alas! Mr. Waverley, I have no better advice than that of my ownfeelings;--my dear father is gone from this place, and when hecan return to my assistance and protection, God alone knows. Youhave probably heard, that in consequence of some troublesome newsfrom the Highlands, warrants were sent out for apprehendingseveral gentlemen in these parts, and, among others, my dearfather. In spite of all my tears and entreaties that he wouldsurrender himself to the Government, he joined with Mr. Falconerand some other gentlemen, and they have all gone northwards, witha body of about forty horsemen. So I am not so anxiousconcerning his immediate safety, as about what may followafterwards, for these troubles are only beginning. But all thisis nothing to you, Mr. Waverley, only I thought you would be gladto learn that my father has escaped, in case you happen to haveheard that he was in danger.

'The day after my father went off, there came a party of soldiersto Tully-Veolan, and behaved very rudely to Bailie Macwheeble;but the officer was very civil to me, only said his duty obligedhim to search for arms and papers. My father had providedagainst this by taking away all the arms except the old uselessthings which hung in the hall; and he had put all his papers outof the way. But oh! Mr. Waverley, how shall I tell you thatthey made strict inquiry after you, and asked when you had beenat Tully-Veolan, and where you now were. The officer is goneback with his party, but a non-commissioned officer and four menremain as a sort of garrison in the house. They have hithertobehaved very well, as we are forced to keep them in good humour.But these soldiers have hinted as if on your falling into theirhands you would be in great danger; I cannot prevail on myself towrite what wicked falsehoods they said, for I am sure they arefalsehoods; but you will best judge what you ought to do. Theparty that returned carried off your servant prisoner, with yourtwo horses, and everything that you left at Tully-Veolan. I hopeGod will protect you, and that you will get safe home to England,where you used to tell me there was no military violence norfighting among clans permitted, but everything was done accordingto an equal law that protected all who were harmless andinnocent. I hope you will exert your indulgence as to myboldness in writing to you, where it seems to me, though perhapserroneously, that your safety and honour are concerned. I amsure--at least I think, my father would approve of my writing;for Mr. Rubrick is fled to his cousin's at the Duchran, to be outof danger from the soldiers and the Whigs, and Bailie Macwheebledoes not like to meddle (he says) in other men's concerns, thoughI hope what may serve my father's friend at such a time as this,cannot be termed improper interference. Farewell, CaptainWaverley! I shall probably never see you more; for it would bevery improper to wish you to call at Tully-Veolan just now, evenif these men were gone; but I will always remember with gratitudeyour kindness in assisting so poor a scholar as myself, and yourattentions to my dear, dear father.

'I remain, your obliged servant,

'ROSE COMYNE BRADWARDINE.

'PS.--I hope you will send me a line by David Gellatley, just tosay you have received this, and that you will take care ofyourself; and forgive me if I entreat you, for your own sake, tojoin none of these unhappy cabals, but escape, as fast aspossible, to your own fortunate country.--My compliments to mydear Flora, and, to Glennaquoich. Is she not as handsome andaccomplished as I have described her?'

Thus concluded the letter of Rose Bradwardine, the contents ofwhich both surprised and affected Waverley. That the Baronshould fall under the suspicions of Government, in consequence ofthe present stir among the partisans of the house of Stuart,seemed only the natural consequence of his politicalpredilections; but how he himself should have been involved insuch suspicions, conscious that until yesterday he had been freefrom harbouring a thought against the prosperity of the reigningfamily, seemed inexplicable. Both at Tully-Veolan andGlennaquoich, his hosts had respected his engagements with theexisting government, and though enough passed by accidentalinnuendo that might induce him to reckon the Baron and the Chiefamong those disaffected gentlemen who were still numerous inScotland, yet until his own connexion with the army had beenbroken off by the resumption of his commission, he had no reasonto suppose that they nourished any immediate or hostile attemptsagainst the present establishment. Still he was aware thatunless he meant at once to embrace the proposal of Fergus Mac-Ivor, it would deeply concern him to leave the suspiciousneighbourhood without delay, and repair where his conduct mightundergo a satisfactory examination. Upon this he the ratherdetermined, as Flora's advice favoured his doing so, and becausehe felt inexpressible repugnance at the idea of being accessoryto the plague of civil war. Whatever were the original rights ofthe Stuarts, calm reflection told him, that, omitting thequestion how far James the Second could forfeit those of hisposterity, he had, according to the united voice of the wholenation, justly forfeited his own. Since that period, fourmonarchs had reigned in peace and glory over Britain, sustainingand exalting the character of the nation abroad, and itsliberties at home. Reason asked, was it worth while to disturb agovernment so long settled and established, and to plunge akingdom into all the miseries of civil war, for the purpose ofreplacing upon the throne the descendants of a monarch by whom ithad been wilfully forfeited? If, on the other hand, his ownfinal conviction of the goodness of their cause, or the commandsof his father or uncle, should recommend to him allegiance to theStuarts, still it was necessary to clear his own character byshowing that he had not, as seemed to be falsely insinuated,taken any step to this purpose, during his holding the commissionof the reigning monarch.

The affectionate simplicity of Rose, and her anxiety for hissafety,--his sense, too, of her unprotected state, and of theterror and actual dangers to which she might be exposed, made animpression upon his mind, and he instantly wrote to thank her inthe kindest terms for her solicitude on his account, to expresshis earnest good wishes for her welfare and that of her father,and to assure her of his own safety. The feelings which thistask excited were speedily lost in the necessity which he now sawof bidding farewell to Flora Mac-Ivor, perhaps for ever. Thepang attending this reflection were inexpressible; for her high-minded elevation of character, her self-devotion to the causewhich she had embraced, united to her scrupulous rectitude as tothe means of serving it, had vindicated to his judgement thechoice adopted by his passions. But time pressed, calumny wasbusy with his fame, and every hour's delay increased the power toinjure it. His departure must be instant.

With this determination he sought out Fergus, and communicated tohim the contents of Rose's letter, with his own resolutioninstantly to go to Edinburgh, and put into the hands of some oneor other of those persons of influence to whom he had lettersfrom his father, his exculpation from any charge which might bepreferred against him.

'You run your head into the lion's mouth,' answered Mac-Ivor.'You do not know the severity of a Government harassed by justapprehensions, and a consciousness of their own illegality andinsecurity. I shall have to deliver you from some dungeon inStirling or Edinburgh Castle.'

'You will find the contrary,' replied the Chieftain;--'thesegentlemen will have enough to do about their own matters. Oncemore, will you take the plaid, and stay a little while with usamong the mists and the crows, in the bravest cause ever swordwas drawn in?' [A Highland rhyme on Glencairn's Expedition, in1650, has these lines--

'Well, then,' said Mac-Ivor, 'I shall certainly find you exertingyour poetical talents in elegies upon a prison, or yourantiquarian researches in detecting the Oggam [The Oggam is aspecies of the old Irish character. The idea of thecorrespondence betwixt the Celtic and Punic, founded on a scenein Plautus, was not started till General Vallancey set up histheory, long after the date of Fergus Mac-Ivor.] character, orsome Punic hieroglyphic upon the key-stones of a vault, curiouslyarched. Or what say you to UN PETIT PENDEMENT BIEN JOLI?against which awkward ceremony I don't warrant you, should youmeet a body of the armed west-country Whigs.'

'And why should they use me so?' said Waverley.

'For a hundred good reasons,' answered Fergus: 'First, you arean Englishman; secondly, a gentleman; thirdly, a prelatistabjured; and, fourthly, they have not had an opportunity toexercise their talents on such a subject this long while. Butdon't be cast down, beloved: all will be done in the fear of theLord.'

'Well, I must run my hazard,'

'You are determined, then?'

'I am.'

'Wilful will do 't,' said Fergus;--'but you cannot go on foot andI shall want no horse, as I must march on foot at the head of thechildren of Ivor; you shall have Brown Dermid.'

'If you will sell him, I shall certainly be much obliged.'

'If your proud English heart cannot be obliged by a gift or loan,I will not refuse money at the entrance of a campaign: his priceis twenty guineas, [Remember, reader, it was Sixty Years since.]And when do you propose to depart?'

'The sooner the better,' answered Waverley.

'You are right, since go you must, or rather, since go you will:I will take Flora's pony, and ride with you as far as Bally-Brough.--Callum Beg, see that our horses are ready, with a ponyfor yourself, to attend and carry Mr. Waverley's baggage as faras -- (naming a small town), where he can have a horse and guideto Edinburgh. Put on a Lowland dress, Callum, and see you keepyour tongue close, if you would not have me cut it out: Mr.Waverley rides Dermid,' Then turning to Edward, 'You will takeleave of my sister?'

'Surely--that is, if Miss Mac-Ivor will honour me so far.'

'Cathleen, let my sister know that Mr. Waverley wishes to bid herfarewell before he leaves us.--But Rose Bradwardine,--hersituation must be thought of. I wish she were here. And whyshould she not? There are but four red-coats at Tully-Veolan,and their muskets would be very useful to us.'

To these broken remarks Edward made no answer; his ear indeedreceived them, but his soul was intent upon the expected entranceof Flora. The door opened--it was but Cathleen, with her lady'sexcuse, and wishes for Captain Waverley's health and happiness.

CHAPTER XXIX

WAVERLEY'S RECEPTION IN THE LOWLANDS AFTER HIS HIGHLAND TOUR

It was noon when the two friends stood at the top of the pass ofBally-Brough. 'I must go no farther,' said Fergus Mac-Ivor, whoduring the journey had in vain endeavoured to raise his friend'sspirits, 'If my cross-grained sister has any share in yourdejection, trust me she thinks highly of you, though her presentanxiety about the public cause prevents her listening to anyother subject. Confide your interest to me; I will not betrayit, providing you do not again assume that vile cockade.'

'No fear of that, considering the manner in which it has beenrecalled. Adieu, Fergus; do not permit your sister to forgetme.'

'And adieu, Waverley; you may soon hear of her with a proudertitle. Get home, write letters, and make friends as many and asfast as you can; there will speedily be unexpected guests on thecoast of Suffolk, or my news from France has deceived me.' [Thesanguine Jacobites, during the eventful years 1745-6, kept up thespirits of their party by the rumour of descents from France onbehalf of the Chevalier St. George.]

Thus parted the friends; Fergus returning back to his castle,while Edward, followed by Callum Beg, the latter transformed frompoint to point into a Low-country groom, proceeded to the littletown of --.

Edward paced on under the painful and yet not altogetherembittered feelings which separation and uncertainty produce inthe mind of a youthful lover. I am not sure if the ladiesunderstand the full value of the influence of absence, nor do Ithink it wise to teach it them, lest, like the Clelias andMandanes of yore, they should resume the humour of sending theirlovers into banishment. Distance, in truth, produces in idea thesame effect as in real prospective. Objects are softened, androunded, and rendered doubly graceful; the harsher and moreordinary points of character are mellowed down, and those bywhich it is remembered are the more striking outlines that marksublimity, grace, or beauty. There are mists, too, in themental, as well as the natural horizon, to conceal what is lesspleasing in distant objects, and there are happy lights, tostream in full glory upon those points which can profit bybrilliant illumination.

Waverley forgot Flora Mac-Ivor's prejudices in her magnanimity,and almost pardoned her indifference towards his affection, whenhe recollected the grand and decisive object which seemed to fillher whole soul. She, whose sense of duty so wholly engrossed herin the cause of a benefactor,--what would be her feelings infavour of the happy individual who should be so fortunate as toawaken them? Then came the doubtful question, whether he mightnot be that happy man,--a question which fancy endeavoured toanswer in the affirmative, by conjuring up all she had said inhis praise, with the addition of a comment much more flatteringthan the text warranted. All that was commonplace--all thatbelonged to the everyday world--was melted away and obliteratedin those dreams of imagination, which only remembered withadvantage the points of grace and dignity that distinguishedFlora, from the generality of her sex, not the particulars whichshe held in common with them, Edward was, in short, in the fairway of creating a goddess out of a high-spirited, accomplished,and beautiful young woman; and the time was wasted in castle-building, until, at the descent of a steep hill, he saw beneathhim the market-town of --.

The Highland politeness of Callum Beg--there are few nations, bythe way, who can boast of so much natural politeness as theHighlanders [The Highlander, in former times, had always a highidea, of his own gentility, and was anxious to impress the sameupon those with whom he conversed. His language abounded in thephrases of courtesy and compliment; and the habit of carryingarms, and mixing with those who did so, made if particularlydesirable they should use cautious politeness in theirintercourse with each other.]--the Highland civility of hisattendant had not permitted him to disturb the reveries of ourhero. But observing him rouse himself at the sight of thevillage, Callum pressed closer to his side, and hoped 'When theycam to the public, his honour wad not say nothing about Vich IanVohr, for ta people were bitter Whigs, deil burst tem.'

Waverley assured the prudent page that he would be cautious; andas he now distinguished, not indeed the ringing of bells, but thetinkling of something like a hammer against the side of an oldmessy, green, inverted porridge-pot, that hung in an open booth,of the size and shape of a parrot's cage, erected to grace theeast end of a building resembling an old barn, he asked CallumBeg if it were Sunday.

On entering the town, however, and advancing towards the mostapparent public house which presented itself, the numbers of oldwomen, in tartan screens and red cloaks, who streamed from thebarn-resembling building, debating, as they went, the comparativemerits of the blessed youth Jabesh Rentowel, and that chosenvessel Maister Goukthrapple, induced Callum to assure histemporary master, 'that it was either ta muckle Sunday hersell,or ta little government Sunday that they ca'd ta fast.'

On alighting at the sign of the Seven-branched GoldenCandlestick, which, for the further delectation of the guests,was graced with a short Hebrew motto, they were received by minehost, a tall, thin puritanical figure, who seemed to debate withhimself whether he ought to give shelter to those who travelledon such a day. Reflecting, however, in all probability, that hepossessed the power of mulcting them for this irregularity, apenalty which they might escape by passing into GregorDuncanson's, at the sign of the Highlander and the Hawick Gill,Mr. Ebenezer Cruickshanks condescended to admit them into hisdwelling.

To this sanctified person Waverley addressed his request that hewould procure him a guide, with a saddle-horse, to carry hisportmanteau to Edinburgh.

'I have told you where I wish to go; I do not conceive anyfurther information necessary either for the guide or his saddle-horse.'

'Hem! Ahem!' returned he of the Candlestick, somewhatdisconcerted at this rebuff. 'It's the general fast, sir, and Icannot enter into ony carnal transactions on sic a day, when thepeople should be humbled, and the back sliders should return, asworthy Mr. Goukthrapple said; and moreover when, as the preciousMr. Jabesh Rentowel did weel observe, the land was mourning forcovenants burnt, broken, and buried.'

'My good friend,' said Waverley, 'if you cannot let me have ahorse and guide, my servant shall seek them elsewhere.'

'Aweel! Your servant?--and what for gangs he not forward wi' youhimsell?'

Waverley had but very little of a captain of horse's spiritwithin him--I mean of that sort of spirit which I have beenobliged to when I happened, in a mail-coach, or diligence, tomeet some military man who has kindly taken upon him thedisciplining of the waiters, and the taxing of reckonings. Someof this useful talent our hero had, however, acquired during hismilitary service, and on this gross provocation it beganseriously to arise. 'Look ye, sir; I came here for my own